The playoff knockout stage has yet to start as we write this, so we will focus meanwhile on the first-class upsets inflicted by lesser grandmasters on their more eminent and prominent counterparts.
Since the 2020 FIDE Online Chess Olympiad is a rapid event, upsets are naturally expected as many highly-rated GMs are not known to play well at faster time formats.
Nevertheless, this piece is dedicated to those who authored defeats of well-known grandmasters. This is by no means the complete list of upsets in the event, since we only looked at the results in the four pools of the Top Division. Even then, we only selected the most interesting ones. Enjoy replaying these games!
Jobava, B (2603)-Le, Quang Liem (2709) [C44]
chess.com (3.1) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.c3 Nf6 4.d3 d5 5.Qc2 a5 6.a4 Be7 7.Be2 0-0 8.0-0 Re8 9.Re1 h6 10.h3 Be6 11.Na3 Nd7 12.Nb5 Nc5 13.Be3 Bf8 14.exd5 Bxd5 15.Nd2 Re6 16.Rad1 Rg6 17.Bf3 Ne6 18.Ne4 Ng5 19.Nxg5 hxg5 20.Bxd5 Qxd5 21.Nxc7 Qd8 22.Nxa8 Qxa8 23.d4 g4 24.hxg4 exd4 25.Bxd4 Rxg4 26.Qf5 Rh4 27.Re4 Rh6 28.Rde1 Qb8 29.g3 Qd6 30.Qc8 Kh7 31.Qf5+ Kg8 32.Rf4 Nd8 33.Re8 Qc6 34.Qe4 Qd7 35.Rg4 Ne6 36.Rb8 Rh5 37.Qxb7 Qxa4 38.Rxf8+ Kh7 39.Rh8+ Kxh8 40.Bxg7+ 1-0
Anand, V (2753)-Maghsoodloo, P (2676) [B32]
chess.com (5.1) 2020
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.d4 cxd4 4.Nxd4 e5 5.Nb5 d6 6.c4 Be6 7.N1c3 a6 8.Na3 g6 9.Nc2 Bg7 10.Be3 Nf6 11.Be2 Rc8 12.b3 0-0 13.0-0 b5 14.cxb5 Ne7 15.Bd2 axb5 16.Bxb5 Qb6 17.Na3 Rxc3 18.Bxc3 Nxe4 19.Bb2 d5 20.Be2 d4 21.Nc4 Bxc4 22.Bxc4 Nd6 23.Ba3 Nef5 24.Rc1 e4 25.Bc5 Qd8 26.Re1 Re8 27.b4 Nxc4 28.Rxc4 e3 29.fxe3 Nxe3 30.Qa4 Re6 31.Rcc1 Qd5 32.Re2 d3 33.Rd2 Bd4 34.Kh1 Nxg2 35.Qb3 Qa8 0-1
Urkedal, Frode Olav Olsen (2549) – Jumabayev, Rinat (2654) [D38]
Online Olym Top DivB 2020 chess.com INT (4.1), 22.08.2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nf3 d5 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.cxd5 exd5 6.Bg5 h6 7.Bh4 Bf5 8.e3 g5 9.Bg3 Ne4 10.Qb3 Nc6 11.Ne5 Bxc3+ 12.bxc3 Na5 13.Qb4 c6 14.Be2 h5 15.f3 Nxg3 16.hxg3 f6 17.g4 Bh7 18.Rxh5 fxe5 19.dxe5 Qc7 20.Kf2 0-0-0 21.Rah1 c5 22.Qa3 b6 23.Ba6+ Kb8 24.Rxg5 Nc6 25.f4 Be4 26.Rhh5 Rhf8 27.Kg3 d4 28.cxd4 cxd4 29.Qa4 Qe7 30.Rh6 Nb4 31.exd4 Rxd4 32.Be2 Bb7 33.Rf5 Rc8 34.Qb3 Qc5 35.Rf7 Bd5 36.Rhh7 Qc3+ 37.Qxc3 Rxc3+ 38.Bf3 Bxf7 39.Rxf7 Nxa2 40.e6 Re3 41.e7 Rc4 42.f5 Nb4 43.f6 Nd5 44.g5 Rc8 45.Kf2 Rc2+ 46.Kg3 Rc8 47.Kg4 Nc7 48.Rf8 a5 49.Rxc8+ Kxc8 50.f7 1-0
Onischuk, V (2633)-Khusnutdinov, R (2491) [C15]
chess.com (9.2) 2020
1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.exd5 exd5 5.Bd3 Nc6 6.a3 Bxc3+ 7.bxc3 Nge7 8.Qh5 g6 9.Qh6 Bf5 10.Qg7 Rg8 11.Qxh7 Qd7 12.Ne2 0-0-0 13.Qh6 f6 14.0-0 Rh8 15.Qe3 Rh4 16.Ng3 Rdh8 17.h3 Bxd3 18.cxd3 g5 19.Re1 g4 20.hxg4 Qxg4 21.Bd2 Qg6 22.Qf3 Nf5 23.Bf4 Qh7 24.Kf1 Nfxd4 25.cxd4 Nxd4 0-1
Brkic, A (2594)-Aronian, L (2773) [C42]
chess.com (4.1) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nxe5 d6 4.Nf3 Nxe4 5.d4 d5 6.Bd3 Bd6 7.0-0 0-0 8.c4 c6 9.Nc3 Nxc3 10.bxc3 dxc4 11.Bxc4 Bf5 12.Re1 Nd7 13.Bd3 Bxd3 14.Qxd3 Re8 15.Bd2 Qf6 16.g3 Qg6 17.Qxg6 hxg6 18.c4 c5 19.d5 Nb6 20.Rac1 a6 21.Rb1 Nxc4 22.Rxb7 Reb8 23.Reb1 f6 24.Bc3 Rxb7 25.Rxb7 Bf8 26.Kg2 Nd6 27.Rd7 Rb8 28.Nh4 g5 29.Ng6 Ne4 30.Ba5 Bd6 31.Ne7+ Bxe7 32.Rxe7 f5 33.Bc7 Rb2 34.d6 Nxf2 35.d7 Ng4+ 36.Kg1 Rb1+ 37.Kg2 Rb2+ 38.Kf1 Nxh2+ 39.Ke1 Nf3+ 40.Kd1 Rd2+ 41.Kc1 f4 42.Re8+ Kf7 43.d8Q Rxd8 44.Rxd8 Nd4 45.gxf4 gxf4 46.Kd1 Ne6 47.Rc8 g5 48.Bb6 Kf6 49.Bxc5 Kf5 50.Ke2 g4 51.Bg1 g3 52.Rc6 Ng5 53.Rxa6 Nh3 54.Ba7 Kg4 55.Rg6+ Kf5 56.Rg8 Ng5 57.Bg1 f3+ 58.Ke3 f2 59.Bxf2 gxf2 60.Kxf2 Ne4+ 61.Ke3 Nc3 62.a3 Ke5 63.Kd3 Na4 64.Kc4 Kd6 65.Rg6+ Kc7 66.Kb4 Nb6 67.a4 Kb7 68.Kb5 Nd5 69.Rg7+ Kb8 70.a5 Nc7+ 71.Kc6 Ne6 72.Re7 Nf4 73.a6 Ka8 74.Rd7 1-0
Howell, D (2663)-Zrikem, N (1942) [C55]
chess.com (4.2) 2020
1.e4 e5 2.Nf3 Nc6 3.Bc4 Nf6 4.d3 Be7 5.0-0 0-0 6.a4 d5 7.exd5 Nxd5 8.a5 Bg4 9.h3 Bh5 10.c3 a6 11.Re1 Qd6 12.Nbd2 f5 13.Ne4 fxe4 14.dxe4 Bxf3 15.gxf3 Kh8 16.Bxd5 Qg6+ 17.Kh2 Qh5 18.f4 Qh4 19.Qf3 exf4 20.e5 Bc5 21.Re2 Rae8 22.Bxc6 bxc6 23.Ra4 g5 24.Rc4 h5 25.Rxc5 g4 26.Qh1 g3+ 27.Kg1 f3 28.Rd2 Qe4 29.fxg3 f2+ 30.Rxf2 Qe1+ 0-1
Mona, K (2127)-Kosteniuk, A (2471) [E12]
chess.com (7.4) 2020
1.d4 Nf6 2.Nf3 b6 3.c4 e6 4.Nc3 Bb4 5.g3 0-0 6.Bg2 d5 7.0-0 a5 8.Bg5 Bb7 9.Rc1 Be7 10.cxd5 Nxd5 11.Bxe7 Nxe7 12.Qc2 Nf5 13.Rfd1 Na6 14.a3 h6 15.d5 Qc8 16.dxe6 fxe6 17.Nb5 Nc5 18.b4 axb4 19.axb4 Be4 20.Qb2 Na4 21.Qe5 Bxf3 22.Bxf3 c5 23.Bxa8 Qxa8 24.Qxe6+ Kh8 25.bxc5 Nxc5 26.Qxb6 Ne4 27.f3 Ng5 28.Nd6 Nxg3 29.hxg3 Nxf3+ 30.exf3 Qxf3 31.Ne4 Rf5 32.Rf1 Qxe4 33.Rxf5 Qxf5 34.Qb8+ Kh7 35.Qb1 1-0
*******
PUZZLERS
WHITE TO MOVE,
MATE IN TWO.
The key to our last problem is 1.Qb2! Black’s futile options are: 1…Sd5, Rd5 2.Sc6#; 1…Rd4 2.e8=Q#; 1…Kd4 2.Rc6/xc7#; 1…Bd5+ 2.Rc4#; 1…Bc6/b7/xa8/xf5 2.Rcxe3#; 1…Bd4 2.Sd3#/PN.
